


The Dream

by Jerry_Larchive



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-23
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-05-27 03:29:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15015668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jerry_Larchive/pseuds/Jerry_Larchive
Summary: April has finally given in. They have an appointment to sign the divorce papers at last.But Jackson has an interesting night ahead of him before anyone finalizes anything.





	The Dream

Today is the day. We are due to sign the papers in my lawyer’s office at 1. It’s just a formality, really, all the details were worked out long ago. This is the day I’ve been waiting for and dreading in equal parts basically since I watched her plane pull back from the gate.

Do I make it sound clean and dry? Hardly. I go back and forth hourly. And April? She just finally gave up, after weeks and months of bloody fighting against it. I think she’s sacrificing herself, agreeing to come in and sign.  I think I finally convinced her it’s what I really want. Now if only I could convince myself.

It took me forever and two bourbons neat to finally get to sleep last night. I’m still having trouble sleeping without her. So basically I haven’t slept for almost two years now. I doubt signing some papers is going to fix that right up.

But I get up, shower, and dress, even though I don’t have to be anywhere for hours. When I finally leave my bedroom to make my way to the kitchen I hear the TV on and wonder if I forgot to turn it off last night.

“Mark?” I’m a little dumbfounded to find Mark Sloan sitting on my couch watching porn on my TV. First, I don’t subscribe to any porn channels. Second, Mark has been dead for years now.

He looks up at me and smiles that big Mark Sloan grin of his. “Damn, I miss this stuff!”

He jumps up from the couch and comes to give me a hug. I’m a little leery about it. For one thing, he’s just been watching porn so, you know…. For another, there's that _dead_ thing.

“Good to see you, son.” he booms out.

“I must be dreaming.” I answer.

“Must be! I’ve been dead for years now.” he replies.

“Yeah, about that, what are you doing here in my living room then?”

“Oh, you know, was in the neighborhood and thought I’d drop by.”

“To watch porn?”

He puts his finger to his mouth to beckon me to silence. “Shh. They don’t allow that stuff where I live now. Better if we keep this between ourselves. Anyway, I didn’t come all this way just to watch porn. I came to see you.”

“Me? Why?”

“Do I need a reason? You’re my guy! My Gunther. My padawan.”

I had a brief vision of Mark Sloan wearing Jedi robes using Force powers to unhook a bra from across the room. “So you just dropped by for a visit?”

He smiled. “Nope, I was sent. But, damn son, it is good to see you.”

“Sent? Who sent you?”

“Before we get into that, got anything to drink? Beer, maybe?”

“It’s a little early to start drinking isn’t it?”

“That’s another thing they don’t allow.” he whispered. “Com’n hook a brother up.”

So I went to the fridge and pulled out a cold one for him. He took a long swig and sighed. “Oh my, that is soooo goood. It’s the little pleasures you miss the most.” he told me. Then he belched loudly and grinned. “Haven’t done that in awhile either.”

We sat down again in the living room. I grabbed the remote and shut off the TV.

“Where did you find that porn anyway? I only have sports channels.”

“On-Demand my friend.”

“Ah, and how much did that..” I indicated the now dark TV, “cost me?”

“ _Naughty Nurses_? A bargain at $11.99.”

I shook my head. “A bargain, huh?”

“Compared to _ER Vixens_. That one set you back $15.99.”

“You mean you’ve been sitting here watching $28 worth of porn?”

“More like $40. You’re not counting _Angels of the OR_.” he corrected.

I sensed a theme to my late mentors porn viewing habits but I was more interested in finding out why he was here rather than exploring Sloan’s disturbing psyche.

“So are you going to tell me who sent you and why?”

He took another long swig of his beer and I saw him eyeing me as he did. “Okay, so you may find this a little hard to accept,” he began, “but it was actually the Big Guy who sent me. You know, The Man Upstairs, The Big Enchilada, El Hombre Grande, The Man Abo…”

“Okay, God, I get it. You’re right, I find it very hard to accept that a God who doesn’t even exist would send you, of all people, to do his bidding.”

Mark immediately became agitated, well, at least as agitated as Mark Sloan could be, and began shushing me again. “Shhh, shhh, ixnay the don’t existnay. He hates that non believer crap.”

“Well then he needs to do a better job of marketing himself because He’s let the world pretty much fall to crap and some of his so called believers are the worst shitters.”

“Yeah, He said you would feel that way. But even though you claim not to believe, He’s decided to answer your prayers anyway.”

“My prayers? What the fuck are you talking about?”

Mark’s smile disappeared and I could tell he was a little uncomfortable. “You know, in the chapel, at the hospital. He does care. Even if you don’t know, he cares.”

Right away I know exactly what he is referring to. And right away I get angry. My first reaction is how the fuck does Mark know about what I said in the chapel that day? Then I remember. I’m dreaming this so of course he knows.

“He cares? Really? He has a funny way of showing it.”

“Hence the old saying...the Lord works in mysterious ways.” Mark answered.

“Meaning in no ways. My son...Our son died. He died in our arms. He died and so did we. So don’t tell me he cares. He doesn’t give a rip.”

“You’re wrong my friend. He does. That’s why I’m here.”

“You’re about two years too late.” I snap back at him.

“Nope, I think I got here just in time to answer that prayer.”

I shook my head. “Samuel is gone.”

“But that’s not what you prayed for, is it?”

“What? Of course it is.” What kind of bullshit was this?

“Actually our records indicate you were praying for someone else.” Mark gently corrected.

“What? Who?” Then I remembered. He was right. I prayed for April that day.

 

“Got any more of this?” he held up his empty bottle.

“In the fridge. Help yourself.” I answered, still struggling with the memory of that day, the worst in my entire existence.

“Don’t mind if I do.” He emerged from the refrigerator with another beer. “You ready for one?” he asked.

“Yeah, I think I am.” I answered, figuring that it only being 9am was cancelled out by the fact that I was dreaming the whole thing anyway.

He returned to the living room with the beers and handed one to me. We both drew long swallows out of the bottle.

“So how does you being here now constitute an answer to my prayer?” I asked.

Mark’s grin was back. “You asked Him to show up for April. So here I am.” he answered.

I about drowned in my beer. Once I recovered from the choking and coughing his reply had triggered, I had to laugh. “So you are God? Yeah, this is sure to win me over.”

Mark ignored my sarcasm. “No, but I am his duly appointed representative so consider this “showing up”.

I looked at him and shook my head. “Sloan, I love you man, but this is the craziest thing I’ve ever dreamed. First, you being God’s appointed messenger? Kind of ridiculous, man, no offense.”

Mark waved it off. He never was the type to be easily offended.

I continued, “Second, as you pointed out, I asked Him to show up for April and, besides the timing being totally terrible, April doesn’t live here. So shouldn’t you be there, haunting her sleep instead of mine?”

“Jackson, son, there are very strict rules about what I can tell you and what I can’t but I’m going to take a chance here that may get me into some serious hot water.”

Mark lowered his voice to a whisper. “We’ve been working with April since day 1. Who do you think put that poor woman who lost her fiance in her path? Who do you think held her together through that worst of all days? Who watched over her in Jordan and got her back home to you, twice? Who do you think has been supporting her all this time in her fight against this divorce?”

That got my attention.

“You call that support? You call that _holding her together_? She was a wreck! And Jordan? What the fuck were you thinking? That destroyed us. This divorce that you apparently want her to fight? It’s all because of fuckin Jordan. So don’t tell me you all showed up for her.”

“I understand, Jackson. From your perspective, it’s hard to see the good that was done. I get that. But you gotta understand, we don’t do stuff, you do. That’s up to you. April decided she needed to go to Jordan so we did everything we could to make it work for her. We didn’t stop you from filing for divorce even though we don't think it’s what you really want. We work with what you give us.”

“Why would you think I don’t want the divorce?”

“For one thing, my boss is the greatest authority on love that has ever existed and he knows you two still love each other.”

I had no argument for that. Yeah I could have trotted out all those love isn’t enough arguments but, I mean, how was that going to work with this audience.

“And even more important to me, it undoes the greatest moment of your life and mine.”

And I knew exactly what he was talking about.

 

We didn’t make it back to the living room after grabbing the next round of beers. Instead, we leaned against the counters in my kitchen.

“Greatest moment of my life, huh?”

“Hell, yes! And mine too, by a long shot, even though I was already dead by then. You can’t take that away from me, son, you can’t.”

“Aren’t you forgetting Sofia?”

“Okay, you got me. Second greatest moment of my life.”

“Won’t I have any Sofia moment?”

“Your Sofia moment will be a lot smoother if you listen to …”

Right then there was a crack of thunder. It sounded very close.

“Okay, okay, I’m not telling him. Yeesh!”

“Telling me what?”

“Never mind. The point is, you had that one great moment when only one thing mattered to you. You didn’t care that people would be angry at you. You didn’t worry about losing Stephanie. You didn’t even let the possibility that she would say _No_ scare you off. The only thing that mattered to you was that you loved her and she needed to know that. I’ll tell you what, if I had still been breathing right them I would have been holding my breath for sure.”

Damn, I couldn’t help but smile at the memory of that moment, in that barn. I HAD been terrified. But Mark was right. The only thing worse than having her tell me that she didn’t love me would have been not standing up to tell her I did love her. But things were different now.

“How?” Mark asked. Damn this dreaming stuff.

“All we’ve been through.”

“Simpler times then?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“Sleeping together and giving you her virginity the night before failing the boards.”

“Well, thats…”

“Her getting fired and going home to Moline thinking you were going to Tulane.”

“Yeah but..”

“Then coming back to Seattle to find you still there because you couldn’t go to Tulane after losing both of us.”

“That’s one …”

“Having rabbit sex every few hours because you couldn’t stay away from each other even though it was messing up her religious commitment. Meanwhile your mom was trying to get her laid.”

“My mom? What?”

“Finally realizing that you had feeling for each other much deeper than a sexual fling.”

“Sure, that..”

“Thinking she might be pregnant and you actually realizing that you loved her and wanted a life with her, then being wounded to the core when she was relieved not to be pregnant.”

“If you had been there…”

“I was. Then in no time flat you’re boinking that intern right in front of her. Then she takes up with the paramedic and gets engaged and suddenly you’re realizing that maybe you are not so okay with that.”

“I was fine. I was very supportive …”

“Until that night you almost died and she told you the truth; that she wanted you.”

“Okay, so that was a little…”

“And then there she was on the altar, marrying another man, and you thought back to what a very wise man had once told you.”

“Yes, you did.” I was just surprised it took him this long to get there.

“But all that really mattered, in that _simpler time_ , was that you loved her and she loved you. Am I right? Huh?”

“Yes.” I answered begrudgingly.

Mark smiled. He had me right where he wanted me.

“And today, you love her and she loves you. What else matters?”

What was I to say to that?

 

“Well, gotta go. Maybe I could have one more beer before I hit the road?”

“Sure. Let’s have one more.” I answered, glad to have a little more time with him.

We didn’t talk much through this one. I think he wanted to let me digest everything. But I couldn’t resist asking him one thing.

“Are you with Lexie?”

He smiled. “I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a while to find out.”

And that’s when I knew I couldn’t ask about Samuel.

We finished our beers and he looked at me.

“You’re my second greatest moment, son, don’t ever forget that.”

I wanted to say something profound but I’d lost my voice by then so I just hugged him instead.

Then, I turned and started back to my room, just because it seemed like what I was supposed to do.

“Thanks for the beer.” I heard him call.

 

I woke up in my bed. I had a little headache. I understood why when I got to the kitchen and realized I’d polished off a whole six-pack the night before.

I waited for nine o’clock to come. Then I made a phone call; two phone calls actually.

 

We got back to my apartment after the counseling session and April went to use the bathroom while I grabbed us a couple of waters from the fridge.

Since April couldn't drink alcohol, I wasn't going to either. We were going to do everything possible to do right by this baby.

She came back out into the kitchen and I handed her a water and began to look through the mail I had just brought up from the box.

It was the usual junk mail, ads, and bills that I hadn’t yet converted to electronic billing.

“Anything interesting?” she asked, leaning against my back and wrapping her arms around my waist.

“Not unless you find ads and bills interesting.” I answered. “But I’ll stand here all night if you’ll keep your arms wrapped around me like that.”

I felt her smile against my back. “You know how the counselor keeps saying we should be open with each other about what we want? Well, I’d like to openly tell you there are other things I’d like to do with you all night long instead of standing here.”

“And I will openly reply that I like the sound of that.”

I turned around to face her and we shared a very nice kiss. April is unquestionably the best kisser I have ever kissed. Actually, she’s about the best everything I have ever… well, everythinged.

“Okay, then I will meet you in the bedroom.” she smiled up at me.

“Right behind you.” I replied.

She disappeared down the hallway and I took the opportunity to refold my cable bill and tuck it back in the envelope. It would not do to have April see it. It would be very hard for me to explain certain charges that appeared there.

But I couldn’t help smiling about it.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> This is not my fault!  
> There have been numerous Japril tumblr postings this week and my resolve to quit writing Japril has crumbled.  
> Anyway, hope you enjoy this bit o' fluff. Feel free to leave a comment :-)


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